Don't stop believing

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Before the end of its first series, Glee has become a major phenomenon, praised and loved by both viewers and critics. Created by Ryan Murphy – the man behind hit Emmy Award-winning show Nip/Tuck (2003–2010) – it has won a slew of awards including the Golden Globe for Best Television Series (Musical or Comedy). Setting Glee apart from other shows are its frequent musical numbers performed by the cast throughout each episode, from both musicals and popular music. The show’s soundtrack albums have been best-sellers, thanks to the enthusiasm of fans, who are known as ‘gleeks’.

At William McKinley High School, teacher Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison) decides to restart the school’s Glee Club – a show choir, which he loved being part of as a pupil there. The first to join the new club are all outcasts for one reason or another: Rachel Berry (Lea Michele) is obsessed with becoming a star and has two fathers; Kurt Hummel (Chris Colfer) is gay; Mercedes Jones (Amber Riley) is overweight; Artie Abrams (Kevin McHale) has to use a wheelchair; and Tina Cohen-Chang (Jenna Ushkowitz) has a stammer. Will also blackmails the nice-but-dim quarterback Finn Hudson (Corey Montieth), who has great singing talent, into joining the club, which is given the name New Directions.

However, scheming cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch, in a show-stealing role) is determined to crush the Glee Club. She orders head cheerleader Quinn Fabray (Dianna Agron) and a couple of accomplices to join the club and destroy it from within. But Quinn, who is also head of the celibacy club, soon has problems of her own. She is pregnant – not by her boyfriend Finn, but by his rebellious best friend Noah ‘Puck’ Puckerman (Mark Salling). Despite these mounting inter-club tensions and ridicule from fellow students, the talented members of New Directions keep on practicing and performing.

The Glee Club members who are on the margins of the school community are treated cruelly by other students, and it clearly hurts them. As the series goes on, both Quinn and Finn also lose their popularity and Quinn’s family throw her out when they discover her pregnancy. Actor Kevin McHale comments, ‘I think, bottom line is that the majority of the people in high school don’t fit in, and we’re putting a light on that.’[1]. People who appear to be part of a crowd, even the most popular individuals, often feel alone and marginalised. It is an all-too-common, heartbreaking feeling that often continues into adulthood, as the show depicts. On the flip side, Glee also demonstrates the power of friendship and acceptance. It is through becoming part of the Glee Club that its members become more confident and comfortable with who they are – Kurt is able to reveal his sexuality to his father, for example, and Rachel learns the value of actually having friends. Glee shows the transforming strength found in music and in friendship, of reaching out to people and being open. It will not solve all our problems – there will still be plenty of pain as the show makes clear – but we will also find that we are no longer alone and that we can become better, stronger people, more comfortable in our own skin because of it.

Glee also shows the corrosive effects of lying. Quinn lies to Finn, making him believe that he is the father of her child. Will’s wife Terri (Jesslayn Gilsig) has a hysterical pregnancy, but after she discovers that it is not real, she pretends to still be pregnant, afraid that her husband will leave her if he finds out she isn’t. Lies like these cause great unhappiness when they are uncovered, and whilst it is clear that telling the truth would have hurt, the lying causes even more pain. Trying to cover up the truth, no matter how painful it is, only makes things worse. This echoes God’s teachings about lying found in the Bible, specifically in the Ten Commandments – ‘You must not testify falsely against your neighbor.’ (Exodus 20:16) – as well as the Bible’s general stance against lying. The apostle Peter urges people to ‘get rid of all evil behavior. Be done with all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all unkind speech’ (1 Peter 2:1). Lying, as Glee demonstrates, causes serious damage, to both those who lie and those being lied to. Lies unravel painfully and destructively, wreaking havoc with the relationships that are so important to us.

Love is seen to be complicated, for both teenagers and adults. For example, while both Kurt and Rachel have crushes on Finn, he cares for Quinn (as does Puck)  though he also returns Rachel’s feelings somewhat. Relationships are difficult at the best of times, especially given the human tendency towards deceit, and love sometimes is not enough to overcome what life throws at us. Glee suggests that growing-up does not make matters of the heart any easier or clearer; love remains a messy and often painful part of life, but it is also shown to be fulfilling and inspiring. Even Sue the cheerleading coach finds love, if only momentarily, in the episode ‘Mash-Up’, and is clearly changed for the better by it. Glee shows many shades of relationships and love, unafraid to show the good and the bad and all that is in between.

Life as a teenager means living with a confusion of emotions and choices, which Glee shows brilliantly. It also shows that this continues into later life and that adults find these issues just as difficult to grapple with as young people do. It demonstrates how people have hidden layers, that there is more to them than initially meets the eye. Despite his abrasive exterior, Puck shows a softer side when continually asserting to Quinn that he wants to be there for his unborn child, determined not to be like his own absent father. Sue also reveals a sweeter side in the episode ‘Wheels’ when she visits her sister who has Downs Syndrome. When we give people a chance, we can discover surprising depths and realise that the front which people show the world is not all there is to them.

The New Directions members find some solace together in their singing, despite their attitudes often grating on each other, their competitiveness and bickering. They remind us of how fulfilling and strengthening being part of a group can be, as well as of the pure joy that can be found in music. It reminds us that we don’t have to be alone, that there are people who are willing to help and support us – sometimes the people we least expect. Glee rightly shows that there are much more important things in life than winning or being popular, such as friendship and family. And whilst these are extremely valuable in our lives, the Bible claims that it is even more vital to know God and discover the joy of living in relationship to him. It is the most important relationship we can ever forge, as a teen or an adult. This is not just a question of God helping us through tough times or guiding us in life and love, but of dealing with the fundamental problem of our self-centredness. This is what produces the deceit and cruelty that play such havoc with our relationships, and it is what made it necessary for Jesus the Son of God to be cruelly treated himself, to die and rise again in order to bring us forgiveness and reconciliation with God. ‘Don’t stop believing,’ urges the Journey song which the club sings in the series’ very first episode – a very wise message indeed.

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